Ocean Vuong’s new novel is chosen by Oprah as book club pick

Oprah Winfrey announced “The Emperor of Gladness” by Ocean Vuong as her latest book club selection during Tuesday’s “CBS Mornings” broadcast, praising it as containing “some of the most beautiful writing I’ve experienced in my lifetime.”

About the novel: Released on Tuesday, “The Emperor of Gladness” follows 19-year-old Hai who forms a profound bond with Grazina, an elderly widow with dementia. The story opens with the line “The hardest thing in the world is to live only once” and explores themes of suicide, connection and life on society’s margins. Published by Penguin Random House, it is the second novel from Vuong, who previously authored the bestselling “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” and poetry collections including “Time Is a Mother.”

What Vuong is saying: Vuong revealed that the novel was partly inspired by his uncle’s suicide in 2012, expressing interest in what happens beyond the moment of crisis. “I’ve always thought what’s happened for that person [who survives an attempt] on day two of that decision. Day three, day 20,” Vuong said during the emotional interview.

The 36-year-old Massachusetts resident called the selection an “honor” and reflected on watching his late mother’s nail salon clients discover literature through Winfrey’s recommendations. “I hope she’s proud of me. I hope she’s seeing me somewhere,” Vuong said of his mother. “This is the only thing she would have recognized. Any literary prize I won, I called her up and she said, ‘Oh, that’s nice,’ but this is the only thing that would be legible to her.”